Expert: Kevin Pilotte - 10/30/2006

Question
Sorry, about this one more question, and what about horsepower! For example your car had how many HP?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Hi there, this last weekend a friend of mine and I were talking about the american v8's and a question emerged! The v8s from the sexties and seventies what what their usual engine size (in cm3), horsepower, mileage in the cities and highways, (if you know co2 emissions) and other related issues like the cars and brands that equipped!

Thanks
-----Answer-----
Antonio,
American V-8 engines from the 60's & 70' ranged from 4.2L to over 7.3L, or more common here, 260 CID to over 440 CID.
As for gas mileage, there were no regulations at that time to require mileage readings be monitored. I had a 1969 Ford Fairlane Cobra Jet with a 428 CID (7L). It got around 10 mpg around town and 15 mpg on the highway. When I owned it, gasoline was only .35 per Gallon.
Each of the car companies had there own performance V-8 engine. The most popular were Mopar's 426 Hemi & 440 Magnum, Chevy's 427 Rat engine and 409, Ford had a 427 Wedge and a 429 Boss as well as the 428 Cobra Jet. All of these engines were of cast iron construction and overhead valve configuration. A bit antiquated compared to today's engines. They were great for torque output, but very heavy in weight. All had one or two 4 barrel carburetors, a few had a three 2 barrel carburetor set up. They had high compression ratios, 10:1 and above and required high octane fuel. The only emission control device they had was a PCV Valve. As time went on, the government required lower emissions and better gas mileage. The insurance companies also started inceasing their premiums to vehicles with the large engines. This eventually led to their demise.
Hope this helps.
Kevin  

Answer
Sorry about that,
High performance engines were rated by their manufactuers between 360 - 435 h.p.
They were often under rated because it allowed the vehicle to race in a lower class when running at the drag strip. The Mopar 426 Hemi, for example, actually put out close to 500 h.p. in stock trim.